Sperling showered and changed and at 4:30 scooted back to the Old Executive Office Building, where he and fellow aide Barry Toiv called Joe Lockhart, the press secretary for the Clinton-Gore Re-Election Committee.

CNN: It's All In The Timing

Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, chairwoman of the Agriculture Committee, lost her re-election bid, but there are still three female committee chairwomen: Sen.

CNN: Despite new female faces in Congress, numbers in decline

And there's a second way in which it might be changed: half way through the Parliament - so in about June, I assume - the chair and members of the backbench committee will face re-election.

BBC: The year ahead in Parliament